Flexible etched circuits (sometimes referred to in the art as "FEC's") are widely used in the electrical and electronic industries. These flexible etched circuits comprise a plurality of finely-spaced circuit elements or traces formed (by optical or other suitable means) on a thin flexible sheet of insulating material, such as a polymeric film. These flexible etched circuits are connected to other circuit elements, or to each other, by means of a suitable interface.
One such interface (as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,981, issued on Nov. 10, 1992) employs a flexible electrical connector comprising a plurality of finely-spaced circuit elements or traces formed on an elastomeric core. The traces may be formed from a gold-plated nickel-clad copper foil for superior conductivity. Typically, these traces are 3 mils wide with a 7 mils center-to-center spacing, such that the traces have a 4 mils spacing therebetween. A complete line of flexible electrical connectors is supplied by AMP Incorporated of Harrisburg, Pa. under its registered "AMPLIFLEX" trademark.
The prior art systems, which use these flexible etched circuits and their respective interfaces (such as flexible electrical connectors) in overall connector systems, are not pluggable and unpluggable. While perfectly suitable for the purposes intended, nevertheless, these prior art systems increase the production assembly time for the products employing the flexible etched circuits and, besides, are somewhat inconvenient and time-consuming for product service, upgrading and repair out in the field.